Team RAVENOL has won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring; the racing team – with car #80 – is a sister team of Verstappen Racing and races with the same Mercedes-AMG GT3. The team of the four-time F1 champion was in contention for the victory for a long time but spent over three hours in the garage on Sunday due to a technical issue. Representing Team RAVENOL, Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Fabian Schiller, and Maxime Martin took the prizes.
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In the final phase, Team RAVENOL drove unchallenged to victory. Due to many retirements in the top class, the Germans effectively only had competition from Verstappen Racing, which – partly thanks to Max Verstappen’s impressive pace – initially built up a lead of almost a minute. However, at the end of Sunday morning, things went wrong for the Dutchman and his team. Due to a broken driveshaft, all chances of a good result vanished.
Victory for the Nürburgring
The overall win for Team RAVENOL marks the first victory for Mercedes in ten years. Naturally, the Germans hoped for a one-two finish, possibly with a Dutch Formula 1 touch. Nevertheless, the event itself greatly benefited from Verstappen’s presence. With his beautiful overtaking moves and impressive pace, he put GT3 racing and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring firmly in the spotlight. Attendance numbers also soared this weekend: where last year 280,000 spectators traveled to the Eifel, this year there were no less than 352,000.
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Behind Team RAVENOL, the #84 Lamborghini – which had secured pole position on Friday – finished in second place. Behind the wheel were Luca Engstler, Mirko Bortolotti, and Patric Niederhauser. The #34 Aston Martin finished P3 with Christian Krognes, Mattia Drudi, Nicki Thiim, and Felipe Fernandez Laser.
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